{"id":"01KJNXJQW65J5GVJSFR70JCHVT","cid":"bafkreiefoxf2jfjvo7jckuxabukrn6ocfvbijcaw6wkxyyvztb53aba3q4","type":"text_chunk","properties":{"char_end":293085,"char_start":285112,"chunk_index":40,"chunk_total":178,"estimated_tokens":1994,"source_file_key":"moby-dick","text":"Captain Ahab should be tranquilly laid out—which might hardly come to\r\npass, so he muttered—then, whoever should do that last office for the\r\ndead, would find a birth-mark on him from crown to sole.\r\n\r\nSo powerfully did the whole grim aspect of Ahab affect me, and the\r\nlivid brand which streaked it, that for the first few moments I hardly\r\nnoted that not a little of this overbearing grimness was owing to the\r\nbarbaric white leg upon which he partly stood. It had previously come\r\nto me that this ivory leg had at sea been fashioned from the polished\r\nbone of the sperm whale’s jaw. “Aye, he was dismasted off Japan,” said\r\nthe old Gay-Head Indian once; “but like his dismasted craft, he shipped\r\nanother mast without coming home for it. He has a quiver of ’em.”\r\n\r\nI was struck with the singular posture he maintained. Upon each side of\r\nthe Pequod’s quarter deck, and pretty close to the mizzen shrouds,\r\nthere was an auger hole, bored about half an inch or so, into the\r\nplank. His bone leg steadied in that hole; one arm elevated, and\r\nholding by a shroud; Captain Ahab stood erect, looking straight out\r\nbeyond the ship’s ever-pitching prow. There was an infinity of firmest\r\nfortitude, a determinate, unsurrenderable wilfulness, in the fixed and\r\nfearless, forward dedication of that glance. Not a word he spoke; nor\r\ndid his officers say aught to him; though by all their minutest\r\ngestures and expressions, they plainly showed the uneasy, if not\r\npainful, consciousness of being under a troubled master-eye. And not\r\nonly that, but moody stricken Ahab stood before them with a crucifixion\r\nin his face; in all the nameless regal overbearing dignity of some\r\nmighty woe.\r\n\r\nEre long, from his first visit in the air, he withdrew into his cabin.\r\nBut after that morning, he was every day visible to the crew; either\r\nstanding in his pivot-hole, or seated upon an ivory stool he had; or\r\nheavily walking the deck. As the sky grew less gloomy; indeed, began to\r\ngrow a little genial, he became still less and less a recluse; as if,\r\nwhen the ship had sailed from home, nothing but the dead wintry\r\nbleakness of the sea had then kept him so secluded. And, by and by, it\r\ncame to pass, that he was almost continually in the air; but, as yet,\r\nfor all that he said, or perceptibly did, on the at last sunny deck, he\r\nseemed as unnecessary there as another mast. But the Pequod was only\r\nmaking a passage now; not regularly cruising; nearly all whaling\r\npreparatives needing supervision the mates were fully competent to, so\r\nthat there was little or nothing, out of himself, to employ or excite\r\nAhab, now; and thus chase away, for that one interval, the clouds that\r\nlayer upon layer were piled upon his brow, as ever all clouds choose\r\nthe loftiest peaks to pile themselves upon.\r\n\r\nNevertheless, ere long, the warm, warbling persuasiveness of the\r\npleasant, holiday weather we came to, seemed gradually to charm him\r\nfrom his mood. For, as when the red-cheeked, dancing girls, April and\r\nMay, trip home to the wintry, misanthropic woods; even the barest,\r\nruggedest, most thunder-cloven old oak will at least send forth some\r\nfew green sprouts, to welcome such glad-hearted visitants; so Ahab did,\r\nin the end, a little respond to the playful allurings of that girlish\r\nair. More than once did he put forth the faint blossom of a look,\r\nwhich, in any other man, would have soon flowered out in a smile.\r\n\r\n\r\nCHAPTER 29. Enter Ahab; to Him, Stubb.\r\n\r\nSome days elapsed, and ice and icebergs all astern, the Pequod now went\r\nrolling through the bright Quito spring, which, at sea, almost\r\nperpetually reigns on the threshold of the eternal August of the\r\nTropic. The warmly cool, clear, ringing, perfumed, overflowing,\r\nredundant days, were as crystal goblets of Persian sherbet, heaped\r\nup—flaked up, with rose-water snow. The starred and stately nights\r\nseemed haughty dames in jewelled velvets, nursing at home in lonely\r\npride, the memory of their absent conquering Earls, the golden helmeted\r\nsuns! For sleeping man, ’twas hard to choose between such winsome days\r\nand such seducing nights. But all the witcheries of that unwaning\r\nweather did not merely lend new spells and potencies to the outward\r\nworld. Inward they turned upon the soul, especially when the still mild\r\nhours of eve came on; then, memory shot her crystals as the clear ice\r\nmost forms of noiseless twilights. And all these subtle agencies, more\r\nand more they wrought on Ahab’s texture.\r\n\r\nOld age is always wakeful; as if, the longer linked with life, the less\r\nman has to do with aught that looks like death. Among sea-commanders,\r\nthe old greybeards will oftenest leave their berths to visit the\r\nnight-cloaked deck. It was so with Ahab; only that now, of late, he\r\nseemed so much to live in the open air, that truly speaking, his visits\r\nwere more to the cabin, than from the cabin to the planks. “It feels\r\nlike going down into one’s tomb,”—he would mutter to himself—“for an\r\nold captain like me to be descending this narrow scuttle, to go to my\r\ngrave-dug berth.”\r\n\r\nSo, almost every twenty-four hours, when the watches of the night were\r\nset, and the band on deck sentinelled the slumbers of the band below;\r\nand when if a rope was to be hauled upon the forecastle, the sailors\r\nflung it not rudely down, as by day, but with some cautiousness dropt\r\nit to its place for fear of disturbing their slumbering shipmates; when\r\nthis sort of steady quietude would begin to prevail, habitually, the\r\nsilent steersman would watch the cabin-scuttle; and ere long the old\r\nman would emerge, gripping at the iron banister, to help his crippled\r\nway. Some considering touch of humanity was in him; for at times like\r\nthese, he usually abstained from patrolling the quarter-deck; because\r\nto his wearied mates, seeking repose within six inches of his ivory\r\nheel, such would have been the reverberating crack and din of that bony\r\nstep, that their dreams would have been on the crunching teeth of\r\nsharks. But once, the mood was on him too deep for common regardings;\r\nand as with heavy, lumber-like pace he was measuring the ship from\r\ntaffrail to mainmast, Stubb, the old second mate, came up from below,\r\nwith a certain unassured, deprecating humorousness, hinted that if\r\nCaptain Ahab was pleased to walk the planks, then, no one could say\r\nnay; but there might be some way of muffling the noise; hinting\r\nsomething indistinctly and hesitatingly about a globe of tow, and the\r\ninsertion into it, of the ivory heel. Ah! Stubb, thou didst not know\r\nAhab then.\r\n\r\n“Am I a cannon-ball, Stubb,” said Ahab, “that thou wouldst wad me that\r\nfashion? But go thy ways; I had forgot. Below to thy nightly grave;\r\nwhere such as ye sleep between shrouds, to use ye to the filling one at\r\nlast.—Down, dog, and kennel!”\r\n\r\nStarting at the unforseen concluding exclamation of the so suddenly\r\nscornful old man, Stubb was speechless a moment; then said excitedly,\r\n“I am not used to be spoken to that way, sir; I do but less than half\r\nlike it, sir.”\r\n\r\n“Avast! gritted Ahab between his set teeth, and violently moving away,\r\nas if to avoid some passionate temptation.\r\n\r\n“No, sir; not yet,” said Stubb, emboldened, “I will not tamely be\r\ncalled a dog, sir.”\r\n\r\n“Then be called ten times a donkey, and a mule, and an ass, and begone,\r\nor I’ll clear the world of thee!”\r\n\r\nAs he said this, Ahab advanced upon him with such overbearing terrors\r\nin his aspect, that Stubb involuntarily retreated.\r\n\r\n“I was never served so before without giving a hard blow for it,”\r\nmuttered Stubb, as he found himself descending the cabin-scuttle. “It’s\r\nvery queer. Stop, Stubb; somehow, now, I don’t well know whether to go\r\nback and strike him, or—what’s that?—down here on my knees and pray for\r\nhim? Yes, that was the thought coming up in me; but it would be the\r\nfirst time I ever _did_ pray. It’s queer; very queer; and he’s queer\r\ntoo; aye, take him fore and aft, he’s about the queerest old man Stubb\r\never sailed with."},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KJNXEDHZCC8DR4EPSQD0QP4P","peer_label":"moby-dick","peer_type":"text","predicate":"derived_from"},{"peer":"01KJNXECF9R1EZKS5Z7J8A8ZSB","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KJNXKZBGV5QSFPD19S2BQF68","peer_label":"captain ahab","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:17.733Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXKW3Z6GAC3QZ1MZC1PX63","peer_label":"pequod","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"whaling_ship","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:17.733Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXM52E04VC7VNY4EAC29SM","peer_label":"sperm whale","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"animal","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:17.733Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXM41ZYQDAF2WVTT59TNHJ","peer_label":"ivory stool","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"furniture","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:17.733Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXKV7VCG1M1V2KKXZJD4A9","peer_label":"stubb","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:17.733Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXMT06H6BPK5C0GMTPDFYE","peer_label":"sailors","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"group","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:17.733Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXMT9XD37B722XPQ29GDM2","peer_label":"mizzen shrouds","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"ship_component","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:17.733Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXN7WFFVTPN4T2R9SEQ2B4","peer_label":"chapter 29","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"document_section","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:17.733Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXN8M6TNFSNNTZBWTZJF7D","peer_label":"tropic","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"geographic_region","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:17.733Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXMXCZ8QSWFHNQ93CKRSHX","peer_label":"ships officers","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"group","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:17.733Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXNDR9HNYQ6X7TNRNET8HZ","peer_label":"iron banister","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"ship_component","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:17.733Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXN8SAP7HAH82A638EYY64","peer_label":"mates","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"group","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:17.733Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXN8PS8DV5E0909HSCGG8A","peer_label":"quito spring","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"weather_phenomenon","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:17.733Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXNFBGX0ETWAHVT5BG7CJE","peer_label":"steersman","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"occupation","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:17.733Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXMTEKWP5NBT199SSS7GRT","peer_label":"ivory leg","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"prosthesis","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:17.733Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXNA7BK2RZA7FFZPQR6VVJ","peer_label":"cabin-scuttle","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"ship_component","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:17.733Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXMTRCSKRARVZFHPSB81TM","peer_label":"gay-head indian","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:17.733Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXNFBG6SV0A465DVEMFA2N","peer_label":"globe of tow","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"object","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:17.733Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXNFQ42A53AQNPVNKV2SK6","peer_label":"berth","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"ship_area","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:17.733Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXMW39PB17FR9GMBFTVA01","peer_label":"ahabs cabin","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"ship_area","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:17.733Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXMT9YX5NQ81XVMSE2J3M1","peer_label":"japan","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"location","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:17.733Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXMWDM6DVTX55EH7RQ9ZJD","peer_label":"auger hole","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"ship_component","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:17.733Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXQ3892JGXH9CMG11QBXVS","peer_label":"whaling preparatives","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"entity","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:17.733Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXMWE6M5AD5B7GPGVQ436E","peer_label":"quarter-deck","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"ship_area","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:17.733Z"}}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-03-02T00:01:15.654Z","ts":"2026-03-02T00:08:19.071Z","edited_by":{"method":"system","user_id":"01KJ60XQBHJ0GBGTP9X8HXAPPM"}}